Epilepsy Specialist joins New York Hospital Queens Medical Staff to Treat those Suffering from Uncontrolled Epilepsy

Flushing, N.Y., November 19, 2010– Hind Kettani, M.D., has
joined New York Hospital Queens (NYHQ) as an attending neurologist in
the Department of Medicine. She is an expert in the medical management
of epilepsy, a disease that affects at least one percent of the
population in New York City, including 23,000 people in Queens alone.

According to Edward Chai, M.D. director, Division of Neurology, “ Dr.
Kettani is a valuable addition to NYHQ’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.
Besides her clinical skills, she is also doing important research in new
treatments for intractable or uncontrolled epilepsy which we hope will
one day help the thousands of Queens residents whose lives it so
profoundly impacts.”

According to the Epilepsy Foundation of Metropolitan New York three out
of every four sufferers find that medications or other treatment options
can control their seizures. However, one patient out of every four tries
everything available to alleviate seizures, but finds no relief.

“Intractable epilepsy is the focus of my research,” Dr. Kettani said.
“But, there are too many people with ‘standard epilepsy’ in Queens
who remain undiagnosed or have not been diagnosed properly. The
goal of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYHQ is to help all people
with epilepsy to control their seizures and lead a better quality of
life.”

Dr. Kettani achieved her medical degree from the University Hassan II in
Casablanca in Morocco. She then spent a year in Paris, France studying
pain management before coming to the United States to complete her
medical training. She did her internship in internal medicine at Nassau
University Medical Center-North Shore Long Island Jewish and her
residency in neurology at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. She
then completed a fellowship in epilepsy at Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tennessee, before coming to NYHQ.

About Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a disturbance in brain electrical activity that often
results in chronic seizures. According to the Epilepsy Foundation ten
percent of the population living in the United States will experience a
seizure in their lifetime and three percent will develop epilepsy by age
75. It affects both children and adults. Although there are
several known causes of the disorder, 50 percent of the time no cause
can be found.

In children, epilepsy is usually caused by a defect in the structure of
their brain, a head injury or an infection. A severe head
injury is the most common known cause of epilepsy in young adults. In
middle age, strokes, tumors, and injuries are the usual causes of
epilepsy in this population. And in people over 65, stroke is the most
common known cause, followed by degenerative conditions such as
Alzheimer's disease.

The Comprehensive Epilepsy
Center at NYHQ uses a team approach to care for an individual with
epilepsy. The center includes the combined expertise
of neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, specially trained
nurses, electroencephalography technicians and skilled social workers.
The center uses state-of-the-art equipment for diagnosis, monitoring and
treatment of the disorder.

New York Hospital Queens is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian
Healthcare System and an affiliate of the Weill Medical College of
Cornell University.